A known example of such a powder inhaler is one comprising: a housing having an admission port in its front area; a supplier for containing plural doses of a fine powder drug; a drug carrier for moving back and forth between the supplier and the admission port so as to supply a single dose of the fine powder drug from the supplier to the admission port; a detachable cover cap that covers the front area of the housing; and a bottom cap for operating the drug carrier, wherein the rear side of the housing has an opening, the bottom cap having a cap-like shape is formed to freely move back and forth while covering the back portion of the housing, the bottom cap and the drug carrier are connected by a connector penetrating through the opening, and, when the housing is covered by the cover cap, the back end of the cover and the front end of the bottom cap are met so that the cover cap enfolds the housing (see Patent Document 1).
The inhalation of the fine powder drug using the foregoing powder inhaler is performed by six operations as follows. As shown in FIG. 52, (1) the cover cap C2 is removed, and (2) the powder inhaler is held and shaken by hand so as to fill the drug carrier with the fine powder drug that is supplied from the supplier, (3) the bottom cap C1 is pushed to move the drug carrier from the drug-receiving position to the drug-inhalation position (the position enabling the user to inhale the drug from the admission port), (4) the user inhales the drug, (5) the bottom cap C1 is operated to move the drug carrier back to the drug-receiving position, and (6) the cover cap C2 is closed.    Patent Document 1: International Publication No. 2004/033010